The present invention resides in a conveyorized transport apparatus having a rail system for transporting articles on a trolley between one location and another. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a pivotal rail section in a rail system which allows the transferred articles to be moved to a diverted position away from the conveying path.
A conveyorized transport apparatus utilizing an overhead rail system is known in the prior art and is used to transfer articles from one location to another. At least one prior art system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,273 having the same assignee as the present invention and is utilized in a garment plant to carry pattern pieces from one work station to another so that the pieces can be sewn together in a sequence of assembly steps to produce a garment such as a dress or suit. The rail system includes a main rail along which trolleys supporting the pattern pieces are moved by means of a pusher on a propulsion track. Subsidiary rail loops are located at each work station disposed along the main rail, and a switching arrangement is provided to divert the trolleys and pattern pieces to the appropriate work station. Once a work operation is performed on the pattern pieces at a work station, the trolleys and pattern pieces are returned to the main rail and advance to the next work station.
Such a conveyorized transport apparatus is computer-controlled to track each of the pattern pieces as the assembly operations progress and to direct the pattern pieces to and from the appropriate work stations.
Ideally at each work station, a seamstress should not have to move or reach very far to grasp the pattern pieces which are to be sewn. However, in the past, for the sake of moving the trolleys and supported pattern pieces through each work station without interference with the seamstress or other equipment, a reasonable separation was provided between the seamstress and the conveying path swept by the trolleys and the suspended pieces. A fair margin of safety was needed because various shapes and sizes of pattern pieces had to pass through a work station and, therefore, some reaching or movement on the part of seamstress was necessary.
It is, accordingly, a general object of the present invention to provide a conveyorized transport apparatus with a rail system which diverts the transported articles from the conveyor path and positions those articles within easy reach of personnel at a work station.